pp-semi-indef
Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (born September 27, 1982), better known by his
stage name Lil Wayne, is an
American rapper. Currently part of the newly reunited rap group
Hot Boys, he joined the
Cash Money Records collective as a teenager. He worked with
B.G. on the album
True Story and eventually recorded for the label.
Get It How U Live, released in 1997, was Lil Wayne's first album with Hot Boys, and
Tha Block is Hot, his solo debut, came out 1999.
Block debuted in the top ten on the American
Billboard 200 chart and Lil Wayne was nominated for "Best New Artist" from
The Source magazine the same year. Following this success, Wayne soon featured on other rappers' singles, including "Bling Bling" by
B.G. and "#1 Stunna" by the
Big Tymers in 2000.
After his hit debut album
Tha Block Is Hot and two more albums released with little promotion, Lil Wayne reached higher popularity with 2004's
Tha Carter and its two subsequent albums
Tha Carter II (2005) and
Tha Carter III (2008), and he dubbed himself the "best rapper alive." During that period, he appeared on several mixtapes and singles of other artists.
Personal life
Lil Wayne was born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. and grew up in the
Hollygrove neighborhood of
New Orleans, Louisiana.
Carter enrolled in the gifted program of Lafayette Elementary School and in the drama club
of Eleanor McMain Secondary School.
At age eleven, he met
Bryan Williams, rapper and owner of
Cash Money Records. Lil Wayne recorded freestyle raps on Williams' answering machine; Williams would eventually mentor the young Carter and include him in Cash Money-distributed songs.
He dropped out of school at age 14 but later earned his
GED.
When he was 12, he played the part of the
Tin Man in his middle school drama club's production of
The Wiz.
He also accidentally shot himself in the chest with a .44-caliber.
Carter has a daughter named Reginae Carter with Antonia "Toya" Johnson, his high school sweetheart. The two were married on
Valentines Day of 2004; they divorced in 2006.
[Vibe.com - Toya Carter Speaks Out (Part 2) (October 1, 2007)] During his acceptance speech for "Lyricist of the Year" at the 2008 BET Awards, Lil Wayne announced that he is expecting a son. His newborn son is, Dwayne Carter III, was born Oct. 22 at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. The child's mother is still unknown.
[[1]] In an interview with
Blender, Lil Wayne revealed one of his favorite bands from childhood to be rock group
Nirvana, and cites them as a major influence in his music.
Hot Boys
In 1997, Lil Wayne formed the group
Hot Boys along with rappers
Juvenile,
Turk, and
B.G.; at age 15, Wayne was the youngest member at that time. Hot Boys' debut album
Get It How U Live! was released the same year, followed in 1999 by the group's major-label debut
Guerrilla Warfare,
which reached #1 on the
Billboard magazine Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #5 on the
Billboard 200.
During their career, the Hot Boys had two charting singles, "We On Fire" from
Get It How U Live! and "I Need a Hot Girl" from
Guerrilla Warfare.
Lil Wayne was also featured on Juvenile's single "
Back That Azz Up", which reached #18 on the
Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.
[Juvenile - Billboard Singles. allmusic] Let 'Em Burn, a compilation album of unreleased tracks recorded during 1999 and 2000, came out in 2003, several years after the group disbanded.
It reached #3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #14 on the
Billboard 200.
Solo career
Tha Block Is Hot (1999)
Lil Wayne's debut solo album
Tha Block Is Hot at only age 16 featured significant contributions from the
Hot Boys and went double platinum, climbing to #3 on the Billboard album charts.
The album earned him a 1999
Source magazine award nomination for "Best New Artist",
and also became a Top Ten hit.
The lead single was "
Tha Block Is Hot" which attained big recognition as a new artist and a music video. After the release of
Tha Block is Hot, Lil Wayne was featured on the single, "
Bling Bling", with
B.G., Juvenile, Turk, and Big Tymers.
Lights Out (2000)
His 2000 follow-up album
Lights Out failed to attain the level of success achieved by his debut
but was certified gold by RIAA.
At this point in his development as an emcee, Lil Wayne was criticized for coasting on his fame and the collective success of the
Hot Boys. Critics pointed to the lack of coherent narratives in his verses as evidence that he had yet to mature to the level of his fellow Hot Boys.
The lead single was "Get Off The Corner" which was noticed for an improvement in lyrical content and style, it also received a music video. The second single which received less attention was "Shine" featuring The
Hot Boys. Near the release of
Lights Out, Lil Wayne was featured on the single, "1# Stunna" with
Big Tymers and
Juvenile, which rose to 24th place on the
Hot Rap Tracks charts.
500 Degreez (2002)
Lil Wayne's third album
500 Degreez, released 2002, followed the format of his previous two, with significant contributions from the
Hot Boys and
Mannie Fresh. While certified Gold like its predecessor,
it too failed to match the success of his debut.
The title was a reference to the recently estranged Hot Boys member Juvenile's recording,
400 Degreez.
The lead single was "Way Of Life" which like the album failed to match the success of his previous singles. After the release of 500 Degreez, he was featured in the single, "
Neva Get Enuf" with
3LW.
Tha Carter (2004)
In the summer of 2004, Wayne's album
Tha Carter came out, marking what critics considered advancement in his rapping style and lyrical themes.
In addition, the album's cover art featured the debut of Wayne's now-signature
dreadlocks.
gained Wayne significant recognition, selling over 1 million copies in the United States, while the single "Go DJ" became a Top 5 Hit.
After the release of Tha Carter, Lil Wayne was featured in
Destiny's Child's single "
Soldier" with , which peaked at #3 on the
U.S. Hot 100 and the U.S.
R&B Charts.
The song Get Something (featuring
Mannie Fresh) was supposed to appear on the album but failed to make the cut, however the music video was released.
[www.youtube.com/watch?v=14BN0WadHCM]
Tha Carter II (2005)
Tha Carter II, the follow-up to the original
Tha Carter album, was released in December 2005, this time without production by longtime
Cash Money Records producer
Mannie Fresh, who had since left the label. Tha Carter II sold more than 238,000 copies in its first week of release, debuting at No. 2 on the
Billboard Top 200 albums chart, and went on to sell 2,000,000 copies world wide. The lead single, "Fireman," became a hit in the US, peaking at 32 on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart. Other singles included "Grown Man", "Hustler Muzik", and "Shooter" (featuring R&B singer
Robin Thicke). Lil Wayne also appeared on a remix of
Bobby Valentino's "
Tell Me", which rose to #13 on the U.S.
R&B Charts.
In 2005, Lil Wayne was named president of Cash Money, and in the same year he founded
Young Money Entertainment as an imprint of Cash Money.
[Lil Wayne - MP3.com] However, as of late 2007, Lil Wayne reported that he has stepped down from the management of both labels and has handed management of Young Money over to Cortez Bryant.
[Vibe.com - Weezy F. Baby: Uncut (October 2, 2007)]
Mixtapes and cameos (2006-2007)
In 2006, following the release of "
Tha Carter II", Lil Wayne collaborated with rapper
Birdman for the album
Like Father, Like Son, whose first single "
Stuntin' Like My Daddy", reached #21 on the
Billboard Hot 100. Instead of a follow-up solo album, Lil Wayne reached his audience through a plethora of mixtapes and guest appearances on a variety of pop and hip-hop singles.
Of his many mixtapes,
Dedication 2 and
Da Drought 3 received the most media exposure and critical review.
Dedication 2, released in 2006, paired Lil Wayne with
DJ Drama and contained the acclaimed socially conscious track "Georgia Bush," in which Lil Wayne critiqued US president
George W. Bush's response to the effects of
Hurricane Katrina on the city of
New Orleans.
Da Drought 3 was released the following year and was available for free legal download. It contained Lil Wayne rapping over a variety of beats from recent hits by other musicians. Numerous of features in prominent hip-hop magazines such as
XXL and
Vibe covered the mixtape. Christian Hoard of
Rolling Stone magazine considered the mixtapes
Da Drought 3 and
The Drought Is Over 2 "among the best albums of 2007."
Despite no album release for two years, Lil Wayne appeared in numerous singles as a featured performer, including "
Gimme That" by
Chris Brown, "
Make It Rain" by
Fat Joe, "
You" by
Lloyd, and "
We Takin Over" by
DJ Khaled (also featuring
Akon, ,
Rick Ross, Fat Joe, and Birdman), "
Duffle Bag Boy" by
Playaz Circle, "
Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)" by
Wyclef Jean (also featuring
Akon), and the remix to "
I'm So Hood" by
DJ Khaled (also featuring
T-Pain,
Young Jeezy,
Ludacris,
Busta Rhymes,
Big Boi,
Fat Joe, Birdman, and
Rick Ross). All these singles charted within the top 20 spots on the
Billboard Hot 100,
Hot Rap Tracks, and
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. In 2007, Wayne was also featured on the song "Breakin' My Heart" from
Little Brother's Getback and "Hello Brooklyn 2.0" from
Jay-Z's American Gangster.
In the latter half of 2007, Lil Wayne was arrested twice. On July 22, 2007, Lil Wayne was arrested in
New York City following a performance at the
Beacon Theater; the
New York City Police Department discovered Lil Wayne and another man smoking
marijuana near a tour bus. After taking Lil Wayne into custody, police discovered a pistol on his person, and he was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and marijuana.
Another arrest was on October 5, 2007, following a performance at
Qwest Arena in
Boise, Idaho, on felony fugitive charges after
Georgia authorities accused the rapper of possessing a
controlled substance.
The incident was later described as a "mix-up" and the fugitive charges were dropped.
On October 3, 2007,
Vibe magazine ranked a list of 77 of Lil Wayne's songs from 2007, deciding upon the best song from Lil Wayne on the year. They ranked his verse in "
We Takin Over" as his best song of 2007, with "Dough Is What I Got" (a freestyle over
Jay-Z's "
Show Me What You Got") from
Da Drought 3 the second song.
At the end of 2007, an
MTV poll selected Lil Wayne as "Hottest MC in the Game",
magazine ranked him "Rapper of the Year",
and
GQ magazine named him "Workaholic of the Year".
[Lil Wayne: Workaholic of the year. MTV.] In 2008 he was named "Best Rock Star Alive" by
Blender magazine
and "Best MC" by
Rolling Stone.
Tha Carter III (2008)
Initially planned to be released in 2007,
Tha Carter IIIs largest delay came after the majority of the tracks were leaked and distributed on mixtapes, such as "The Drought Is Over Pt. 2" and "The Drought Is Over Pt. 4". Lil Wayne initially decided to use the leaked tracks, plus four new tracks, to make a separate album, titled The Leak
. The Leak
was to be released December 18, 2007, with the actual album being delayed until March 18, 2008,[MTV News Staff (January 17, 2008). Mary J. Blige 'Lives' Again On TV Soap; Plus Remy Ma, Lil Wayne, Nelly, Amy Winehouse, Scarlett Johansson, Zac Efron & More, In For The Record. MTV. Accessed January 17, 2008.] The release of The Leak
in this format never came to fruition, but an official EP titled The Leak
and containing five tracks was released digitally on December 25, 2007.
On January 23, 2008, Lil Wayne was arrested alongside two others. His tour bus was stopped by
Border Patrol agents near
Yuma, Arizona. A K-9 Unit recovered 105 grams of marijuana (3.7 ounces), almost 29 grams of cocaine (1.02 ounces), 41 grams of Ecstasy (1.4 ounces) and $22,000 dollars in cash. Lil Wayne was charged with four felonies: possession of narcotic drug for sale, possession of dangerous drugs, misconduct involving weapons and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was granted permission to travel outside of the state and remain out of custody on the $10,185 bond he posted.
[YumaSun.com] On May 6, 2008 Wayne returned to court in Arizona to plead not guilty to the charges.
[MTV.com]
Tha Carter III was released on June 10, 2008, selling more than a million copies in its first week of release, the first to do so since
50 Cent's
The Massacre in 2005.
[Mayfield, Geoff. Lil Wayne Cracks 1 Million With 'Tha Carter III'. Billboard: June 17, 2008] The first single "
Lollipop", featuring
Static became the rapper's most commercially successful song at that point, topping the
Billboard Hot 100, making it the first Top 10 single for Lil Wayne as a solo artist, as well as his first #1 on the chart. His third single from Tha Carter III, "
Got Money" featuring T-Pain, peaked at #13 on the Billboard 100. Along with his album singles, Lil Wayne appeared on R&B singles "
Girls Around the World" by Lloyd, "
Love In This Club, Part II" by
Usher, "
Official Girl" by
Cassie, "I'm So Paid" by
Akon, "Turnin' Me On" by
Keri Hilson, and "
Can't Believe It" by T-Pain; rap singles "
My Life" by
The Game, "100 Million" and "I Run This" by Birdman, "Shawty Say" by
David Banner, "Swagga Like Us" by , "Cutty Buddy" by
Mike Jones, and "Haterz" by
Glasses Malone; and pop single "
Let It Rock" by new
Cash Money artist
Kevin Rudolf.
On July 14, 2008, the
Recording Industry Association of America certified
Tha Carter III two times platinum.
[Lil Wayne - Tha Carter, Vol. 3 - Gold & Platinum. RIAA]
In a recent interview with MTV News, Lil Wayne announced plans to re-release Tha Carter III with all new tracks.
[[1]]
Future work (2008-2009)
He has announced several possible projects following
Tha Carter III, including a collaboration album
I Can't Feel My Face with rapper
Juelz Santana that has been in production for several years.
On the website
HipHopDX.com, he has discussed a possible
R&B album titled
Luv Sawngz, for which he will heavily rely on a
vocoder.
He has also talked with singer
Lloyd about doing a collaboration album in the future.
stated that there would be a
third installation of the
Dedication mixtape series with Lil Wayne,
who has instead stated that he will do an full album under the title.
[YouTube - Lil Wayne Interview Pt 1] In interviews, Wayne has asserted that he might make an album titled
Tha Carter IV.
[Lil Wayne interview. Youtube.com. Accessed September 6, 2008.] On June 19, 2008, Lil Wayne and
T-Pain formed a supergroup called T-Wayne
and planned to release an album.
The lineup for New Orleans' 2008
Voodoo Experience concert, to be held in October, will feature Lil Wayne. Jonathan Cohen of
Billboard magazine reported that the event will mark his biggest hometown headlining set of his career.
Lil Wayne will be reuniting with Hot Boys alongside Juvenile, Turk, and B.G. They plan to release an album after B.G.'s solo album
Too Hood to Be Hollywood is completed.
Wayne also performed as the 2008
Virgin Mobile Music Fest with
Kanye West, performing his "
Lollipop (remix)" featuring West and also lip-syncing to
Whitney Houston's "
I Will Always Love You".
[www.mtv.com/news/articles/1592577/20080811/lil_wayne.jhtml] Lil Wayne also performed at the
2008 MTV Video Music Awards with
Kid Rock ("
All Summer Long"),
Leona Lewis ("DontGetIt (Misunderstood)") and
T-Pain ("
Got Money").
[www.livedaily.com/blog/2472.html] Lil Wayne was also featured on the 34th season premiere episode of
Saturday Night Live as the musical guest
[blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/2008/08/phelps-to-host-snl-with-lil-wa.html] and is also set to perform at
Vanderbilt University's homecoming on October 23.
[www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080903/TUNEIN/80903016/1005/ENTERTAINMENT] Wayne was then revealed to be performing at the 2008
BET Hip Hop Awards along with
Ludacris,
T-Pain,
The Game, and
Young Jeezy among others, where he leads all nominations with 12 total.
[www.sohh.com/2008/10/lil_wayne_the_game_young.html] He won 6 of them, and one with Dj Khaled for the song "
Out Here Grindin'." He is expected to start a nationwide tour, practising with a live band and working on logistics. It was revealed that
M.I.A. dropped out of performing on the tour due to her pregnancy, however
Jay Z is expected to perform with Wayne on the song "Mr. Carter" at select shows.
[[www.mtv.ca/news/article.jhtml?id=11625]
Lil Wayne To Perform 'Mr. Carter' With Jay-Z For The First Time, Hitting The Studio With Hot Boys.] MTV.com. Acessed October 31, 2008.
In an interview on MTV's Mixtape Monday, Wayne stated that Tha Carter IV is "nice" but fans should be looking for
Dedication 3 with
DJ Drama.
[[www.mtv.com/news/articles/1594678/20080912/lil_wayne.jhtml]
Lil Wayne Preps Mixtape And Tha Carter IV; Juelz Santana Plans Skull Gang Takeover: Mixtape Monday.] MTV.com. Acessed September 15, 2008. Following Tha Carter III's achievement of selling over 2 million copies, becoming 2008's best record, Wayne re-signed with
Cash Money Records for a multi-album deal.
[www.marketwatch.com/news/story/cash-money-re-signs-lil-wayne/story.aspx?guid=%7B5E81F8AA-E197-47FD-8358-FBFD461CF4EA%7D&dist=hppr] On September 24, Lil Wayne published his first
blog for
ESPN in their issue,
ESPN The Magazine. Wayne revealed he was a
tennis fan, a
Green Bay Packers fan, a
Boston Bruins fan, a
Los Angeles Lakers fan, and a
Boston Red Sox fan.
[www.mtv.co.uk/channel/448365-lil-wayne-talks-sport]
On
November 11,
2008, Wayne became the first hip-hop act to ever perform at the
Country Music Awards. He played alongside
Kid Rock for the song, "
All Summer Long", in which Wayne did not rap but instead played guitar along Kid Rock's band.
[www.mtv.com/news/articles/1599254/20081113/lil_wayne.jhtml]
Discography
col-begin
col-2
Studio Albums
EPs
col-2
Official Mixtapes
- 2004: Da Drought
- 2004: Da Drought 2
- 2004: The Prefix
- 2004: Dedication
- 2005: The Suffix
- 2006: Lil Weezyana
- 2006: Dedication 2
- 2007: Da Drought 3
- 2008: Dedication 3
- TBA: Dedication 4
Collaboration Albums
Filmography
col-begin
col-2
Film
col-2
Television
col-end
Awards
